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Friday, January 9, 2015

Writing and publishing goals for the New Year

Now that I’ve been working in libraries for a few months, I’ve come to a strange conclusion about books – there are a lot of them, but only some really popular ones.

In our library, the authors who move the quickest are Stephen King, Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb, Martina Cole, Marian Keyes, and Richard Patterson. Aside from King, I’ve not read any of these authors, just because they aren’t really my taste in books. With the kids, they still check out Jacqueline Wilson as well as the Tom Gates or Wimpy Kid books. That’s about it. Everything else is hit or miss, and their popularity seems to go as quickly as it came.

But that doesn’t mean they aren’t good books. I’m just now reading Gone Girl, but we have copies sitting on the shelf – the peek of “gotta have this” has passed.

So what does this mean for authors? We all want to be loved and adored by readers, of course, but the lasting power, the importance of one book – is it really something we should be striving for?

I’ve decided that, no, that’s not how I should be looking at my books. I like to get the stories in my head out and into words. I like the idea of sharing my stories with others and readers like my stories. And I don’t want to waste my time not doing something I enjoy.

This is why I’ve pretty much hooked into the self-publishing for this year. My YA sci-fi got some great feedback from potential editors, so I’m pleased with that, but it just means I want to keep working on them, edit and publish them myself.

My NA Thriller that’s the Shakespeare retelling wasn’t a hit with anyone I queried. But I like it and I told it the way I saw it in my head for years. I can self-publish that as well and move along without getting upset or have hurt feelings that my story wasn’t what someone else was looking for.

I’ve also found great solace in not fighting the publisher race as well. I’m fine with Wattpad and Smashwords. I’m fine with just doing what I want to do and getting on with it. It’s not to say that I won’t query editors later on, but for now I’m fine with being on the solo mission.

I hope everyone has been having a great New Year. Keep writing and keep on keeping yourself happy in your work!